Dog Days

By Joe McKinney

Winner of the Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in a YA Novel. It's the summer of 1983 and the suburbs of Houston are reeling from a disastrous hurricane.  But the storm brought more than wind and floodwaters.  In the swamps that surround Clear Lake a brutal and possibly supernatural killer is gathering strength, and waiting for the full moon.  The focus of his bloodlust is fifteen year old Mark Eckert.  Reckless to a fault, with a knack for making spectacularly bad decisions, Mark had planned to spend that last summer before high school wandering the swamps with his friends and his beloved dog Max.  But after a chance encounter with the lunatic, Mark's summer becomes a time of terror and tragedy.  With his life on the line, Mark's courage will be tested to his limits and beyond as he struggles to survive the hottest days of summer: the dog days.

• Language: English
• Publisher: JournalStone
• Release date: Jul 11, 2014
• ISBN: 9781940161792

Book preview

Dog Days

By

Joe McKinney

JournalStone

San Francisco

Dog Days—Originally published as part of JournalStone’s DoubleDown series in December, 2-13 © 2013 Joe McKinney

Among Men by Joe McKinney originally appeared in Dark Moon Digest Young Adult Horror Issue #1, edited by Stan Swanson and Lori Michelle; Dark Moon Books: August, 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, names, incidents, organizations, and dialogue in this novel are either the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

JournalStone books may be ordered through booksellers or by contacting: JournalStone

www.journalstone.com

The views expressed in this work are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

ISBN:   978-1-940161-78-5 (sc)

ISBN:  978-1-940161-80-8 (hc)

ISBN:  978-1-940161-79-2 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2014944366

Printed in the United States of America

JournalStone rev. date: July 11, 2014

Cover Design: Denise Daniel

Cover Art: M. Wayne Miller

Cover Photograph © Shutterstock.com

Edited by: Elizabeth Reuter

This one is for Jeff, Mark and Ralph

Who lived it with me back in 1983

Endorsements

Winner of the Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in a YA Novel.

"With Dog Days multiple Bram Stoker Award-winner Joe McKinney rebuilds the werewolf legend for the teen audience. A whip-smart, compelling, and ultimately deeply human story. Highly recommended." – Jonathan Maberry, New York Times best-selling author of Rot & Ruin and V-Wars

Dog Days is just a great read.  Joe McKinney has put together a moving coming-of-age story that embraces a standard horror genre while, at the same time, turning it on its head.  Page-turning tension, sympathetic characters, and a unique setting -- this is the real deal. – David Liss – New York Times-bestselling author of The Twelfth Enchantment and The Whiskey Rebels

CONTENTS

Dog Days

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

About Joe McKinney

Bonus Material

Among Men

Dog Days

It must be a wild place.

Yes, the setting is a worthy one. If the devil did desire to have a hand in the affairs of men –

Then you are yourself inclining to the supernatural explanation.

The devil’s agents may be of flesh and blood, may they not?

From an exchange between Holmes and Watson in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s The Hound of the Baskervilles

Chapter 1

My dad had me pinned to the floor. He put a finger to his lips and said, Shhh, you’ll wake your mother.

I had lurched out of sleep so suddenly, with the storm still roaring in my head, that it took me a moment to realize where I was.

You’re alright, he whispered. It’s over. Stop fighting.

I blinked at him. He was kneeling next to me, our dog Max sitting behind him, his yellow eyes focused on me, tail wagging a million miles an hour. The poor dog was so excited he could barely contain himself. Probably happy to be alive, I thought. I knew I was, because there’d come a point during the night when I seriously doubted I’d see the morning. But the fear I’d felt then was rapidly shrinking.

I looked around, took stock. The house behind my dad was dark. The air was hot and humid. I couldn’t hear the hum of the air conditioners. I heard nothing but Max’s impatient breathing and the sweep of his tail across the floor. I let myself go slack, all the tension fading.

What’s going on? I asked in a whisper. Is the power out?

Yes, the power’s out. The water too. Probably will be for a few days. Come with me. I want to show you something.

I sat up and rubbed my arms. Hurricane Alexis had made landfall the night before, and when the wind and the rain got really bad—bad enough that the house started to shake and I honestly thought the roof would tear away and go sailing off like a kite cut from its string—my family had gone into our walk-in hall closet for shelter. It was where we stashed everything. My parents loved to throw dinner parties, and that closet was where we kept all the extra tables and chairs and fondue kits and everything else. But it was the only room downstairs that didn’t have an exterior wall. My dad said we’d be safest there. So we took out all the tables and chairs, made a bed out of coats and old sweaters, and hunkered down for the storm. My mom put her arms around me and hugged me so tightly she left finger-shaped bruises on my skin.

But that was over now. The storm had passed, and we had made it through.

Moving slowly, so as not to disturb my mom, I got up and followed my dad through the hall and out to the living room, Max trotting along at my side.

Are we gonna take down the boards? I asked.

The day before, when the weatherman said that the storm was definitely going to make landfall at Galveston, my dad and I went around the house nailing sheets of plywood over the windows. Good thing too because the wind had snapped off one of the branches from the pecan tree in our front yard and sent it crashing into the big bay window in my mom’s office. We went into the closet shortly after that. All the other boards had held though. White lines of light glowed from the edges of the windows on the front of the house, and I took that as a good sign. Daylight had come, and I’d had enough rain for a long while.

Later, my dad said. First, I want you to see this.

He led me to the front door, opened it, and then stood off to one side so I could look out.

Whoa! I said.

His smile was wide. I know. Cool, right?

I turned back to the doorway, stunned. We lived in a neighborhood called Brook Forest, one of the wealthier parts of Clear Lake, a little bedroom community about midway between Houston and Galveston. My dad was a sergeant in the Houston police, but my mom was a pediatrician, and because of her we were able to live in one of the nicest homes in a neighborhood made up of nothing but nice homes. Now those gorgeously huge houses looked like islands in a sea of caramel-colored water. There was water everywhere. It came right up to the front door. We had a big brick mailbox down at the curb, but I couldn’t even see it. The water was that deep. Across the street, near where his mailbox should have been, was Mr. Matheson’s blue pickup truck. Except only the top two or three inches near the roof were visible above the waterline.

As I watched, a water moccasin glided by, a long black ribbon on the brown water.

Then I caught movement out of the corner of my eye and looked down. Our lawn sloped away from the house to meet the street, and so the water up near the porch was only a few inches deep. There, hundreds of red crawdads were waving their pinchers in the air, as though outraged and confused by the way they’d been uprooted from their home in the bayou down at the end of my street.

Dad, look!

His smile broadened. I thought you’d like that.

We stepped out onto the porch together and Max followed along. When he saw the crawdads he jumped from the porch and splashed around in the shallow water, his mouth open and teeth bared as he tried to bite them. I noticed he kept his nose high and his tongue pulled into the back of his mouth, though. He’d dealt with crawdads before. He knew those pinchers could hurt.

One of the crawdads grabbed hold of Max’s teeth and, startled, Max shook his head until it went flying off, landing with a small splash halfway across the yard. Max barked at it, and my dad and I laughed. I looked up at him and he smiled down at me, and for a moment, I thought we were fine. It felt good, standing there together in the middle of the flood, realizing that we’d come through okay. But then his smile faded and his expression turned sad and I knew that even this new adventure wasn’t enough to allow him to forgive me.

Luckily neither one of us got a chance to discuss it, for just then Mr. Moore pulled up to our porch in a little aluminum boat. Mr. Moore lived down at the corner of our block in a house that looked like an old Louisiana plantation. On school days, I caught the bus at the corner under the shade of an enormous pecan tree he had in his front yard. He was kind of fat and really pale and going bald, and he looked ridiculous sitting in the boat in his white t-shirt and baby blue shorts and black socks.

Morning, Wes, he said to my dad. You and Meredith make it through okay?

Morning, Tom. I haven’t had a chance to look at the roof yet, but I think we did all right. How about you and Eleanor? You guys good?

Mr. Moore was wearing an Astros baseball hat. He took it off and wiped his bald head before answering. Well, actually, I got a bit of a problem I was wondering if you could help with.

Oh yeah? What’s up?

Mr. Moore looked back toward his house, and when he turned back to us, I could see he was scared.

I think my dad noticed it too.

What’s wrong, Tom?

Um, can you…can you see my house from there?

We couldn’t. There were trees in the way. My dad stepped off the porch and walked into the yard until he was up to his knees in the floodwater.

Oh my God, he said.

I jumped off the porch and ran to his side. And looking down the street toward Mr. Moore’s house I got my second shock of the day.

Is that a shrimp boat? I asked.

My dad nodded.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. We were seven miles from the shrimp and oyster camps down in Kemah, but somehow the storm had carried one of those shrimp boats all the way from down in Kemah to the corner of my block, where it now rested in the branches of Mr. Moore’s pecan tree. The tree looked like a giant trying to pull a toy boat out of the water.

How is that even possible? I asked.

I don’t know, my dad said. Storm surge must have carried it here. Had to have been seven or eight feet of surge to cause this kind of flooding. I guess it could’ve carried a boat.

My dad turned to Mr. Moore and shrugged. I don’t know if I can do anything about that, Tom. I guess you’ll just need to call your homeowner’s insurance once the phones come back up. You’re probably gonna need a crane to get that thing out of there.

 Huh? Mr. Moore said. Oh, yeah, I guess you’re right.

What’s wrong, Tom? my dad asked. You look spooked.

Spooked was one way of putting it, I thought. Actually, Mr. Moore looked like he didn’t quite have the words to say what he needed to say. He opened his mouth to speak, then stopped, looked at me, and then at my dad, and tried again. Can you…would you come with me, Wes. Please.

Well, sure, my dad said. Just tell me what’s wrong.

It’s… He took a deep breath. There’s a bad smell, Wes. You know what I mean? It’s real bad.

Oh, my dad said. Oh, okay. Come closer. Let me get onboard.

Mr. Moore turned the motor back on and coasted up to our porch. My dad climbed aboard and I tried to follow.

Um, Mr. Moore said, holding up a hand to stop me. I think, Mark, it’d be best if it was just your dad.

But I want to see the boat, I said.

No, my dad said, and right away I recognized the bark of command in his voice. It was what my mom called his cop voice. You stay here. Take Max inside and help your mother. I’ll be back in a bit.

But Dad…

I said no. Now go on. Take Max inside.

Before I could say more they backed the boat up and powered off, leaving Max and me on the porch. He looked up at me and whined.

Figures, I said. Come on, Max. This summer’s gonna suck.

I walked back inside and closed the door and sat on the stairs. Max put his head in my lap and I scratched him behind the ears, but not even he could

Reviews for Dog Days

[al9g · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

It is the summer of 1983 as small, but powerful, Hurricane Alicia makes landfall at Kemah and Clear Lake City near Houston. But for Mark Eckart and his friends it is not the hurricane that blows an ill wind, but what comes with it. For the storm leaves a mystery that begins with dismember and partially eaten dead bodies. Is it a supernatural being or a very real and human mass murderer? These events begin a summer that will change the Mark and his friends forever. The book is a quick read with a good plot and plenty of action to keep the reader moving. The characters are well developed and the story will keep you engaged. For me, though, having lived in this area during Alicia, it is the setting that makes the book and the story real. McKinney has done a great job capturing the essence of the Texas Gulf Coast and that makes the story more convincing.

[mary6508 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I won this book in the LT Early Reviewers club. When I chose it, I didn't realize it was YA, which I generally don't read. It took me some time to actually get into the story, but once I did it was an enjoyable read. Just enough horror to keep a young mind occupied while not being overly gory. I would recommend this book to pre-teen boys and girls.

[antmusic · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An enjoyable (slightly-older) YA book that is a great alternative to most of the YA sludge that is out there.

[command3r · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Dog Days is a small town Gulf Coast take on the classic werewolf tale that does a better job at telling a teenage boy growing up over the summer than it does the horror. A stronger (and less confused) horror villain in the werewolf would have helped, as it was, the teenage bullies came across as much more menacing, but maybe that was the point.

[flying_monkeys_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Rating: 3.5 of 5A page-turner for young adult readers. Especially perfect for teen boys under 15. The horror elements were quite mild, but there was some creepy atmosphere in the Swamp, and enough suspense with the "werewolf" that I jumped in one scene. I loved all the references to horror movies and dark fiction classics.Recommended to teens who want soft horror with minimal gore.

[beverlyjean-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Have you ever been in a hurricane? If so, you know the damage they can cause. If not, you’ve likely seen TV reports and newspaper articles, which give you an idea of their ferocity. Hurricanes destroy property; they also destroy lives.In Author Joe McKinney’s award winning YA novel, DOG DAYS, the year is 1983 and fourteen-year-old Mark just wants to hang with his best friend, Jeff, and his dog Max and enjoy summer vacation. But Hurricane Alexis has left its calling card in Clear Lake, a small town between Galveston and Houston, TX, and the boys soon discover that the hurricane is the least of their problems. Dead men are found in a shrimp boat that was washed ashore and landed in a neighbor’s tree. The men had been eaten. Other people are discovered dead and eaten. What sort of creature is terrifying the area? As if Mark doesn’t have enough to worry about with a monster running loose, he also has to face the bullies that never leave him alone. DOG DAYS is the story of a boy and his family and how they deal with tragedy, each in their own way. It’s a story of fear and of love, friendships and understanding. The author has created characters that are real, with faults as well good points. Even the dog, Max, plays an important role in the story. Black- and-white drawings scattered throughout the story add a nice touch. I do recommend that you read this novel with your lights on. Enjoy. The publisher sent me an ARC for my honest review.

[najambus · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I got this book free from Journalstone for review and I thought it was about dogs but horror. I am not into horror but I read it anyway and it was good book.

[tinabear13 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I enjoyed this. I don't typically read horror stories, so it was an interesting read. It wasn't so bad, though. Definitely more aimed towards young adults. But it was quick, and entertaining.

[sandyg210 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Although this is a horror story the gore is not overplayed. And the characters are interesting. I'd recommend this for a teenage boy to read.

[sebastianhagelstein · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The kids in Dog Days seem a little too much like stereotypical bad teenagers. Drugs, cursing, stealing their father's gun and shooting alligators. I liked them as characters though and they developed throughout the story. There are some good action scenes.

[ginger72_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Could not put this book down once I started reading it. Loved the characters, especially the German Shepard, the story line and the fact that it was set during the eighties. I will definitely check out more from this author.

[jcompton-289965 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I don't read much Young Adult fiction, so it's not easy for me to tell when I'm being to harsh on the occasional YA novel that I do pick up. I don't want to do this brand of literature the disservice of grading it on a curve, which would be insulting. Nor do I want to hold it to a standard that it isn't necessarily aspiring to reach, if that makes sense. I preface this short review of Joe McKinney's short YA novel "Dog Days' with all of this because the nature of the book, and my unfamiliarity with young adult literature, makes it a little hard to pin down how I actually feel about it.The story is straight forward and easily recognizable. A fourteen-year-old boy in a relatively small town endures a summer of frights, maturation and unexpected change. It has its own signatures. it begins in the aftermath of a hurricane. While it has the requisite, inexplicably murderous town bully character is as present and predictable as he ever is in these types of stories, the resolution to his character's presence comes in such an abrupt, unexpected fashion that it is oddly refreshing, in a macabre way. Characters who don't have all that much actual "page-time" in the book end up being emotional anchors for our lead through his tumultuous and harrowing summer. But ultimately, this is a song that's been played read before, and it hits all the expected, familiar notes. If you've read King's It or (especially) Cycle of the Werewolf, McCammon's Boy's Life, Simmons's Summer of Night or a host of others, this story won't offer any surprises, nor is it trying to do so. (Of course, the presumed target audience may well not have read any of the above novels, so for them this might be fresh. Again, hard for me to say.)The book doesn't waste much time getting where it wants to go. The best and most haunting section comes early, in the flooded aftermath of a devastating hurricane. The story really kicks off with a gruesome discovery made in a shrimp boat that the storm surge deposited in a tree. From there, the story moves pretty quickly, though its charms start to wear thin and it seems to lose steam as it goes on. There's a lot of name-checking of older, classic books and of 80's movies and music here, meant to set the stage, flesh out the environment and, presumably, introduce younger readers to works they may have never heard of before. Some of these moments, like Mark (our protagonist) spacing out to bond with some Pink Floyd, work magnificently with spare yet creative and confident prose. Other moments, the incessant movie references in particular, feel gratuitous. It seems apparent when the author is giving one of these moments more of a personal touch, and when he's just throwing references out because what the heck, why not?There also seem to be sudden inconsistencies in behavior and characterization which stand out vividly in such a brisk novel. One second Mark is saying that, while he can't argue with his mother a particular subject, he probably would have ended up in a shouting match with his father. Then the next moment, his dad is taking the same stance that his mother took, and Mark says nothing. Early on, Mark's father is noted as having "kicked [Mark's] a**" more than once in the past when his son got out of line. Shortly after, Mark expects some corporal punishment for his most egregious action to date (taking one of his father's handguns without permission to take some makeshift target practice with a friend), but we're then told that that "wasn't how my dad dealt with things. That wasn't his style."Back to the story itself, though. Dog Days works best when it fully embraces the sense of danger and intensity. Mr. McKinney has a desire to pack the novel with some common coming-of-age characteristics as well, but the story's too short to let these moments breathe and develop. With everything so condensed, it just makes it seem that the characters are terrified or saddened by a string of grisly murders striking their town (and even people they know) one moment, then being relatively carefree the next. That said, the dialogue is strong and genuine, and the characters manage to feel real enough, despite their inconsistencies. While some of the references can be tedious, others add to the overall vibe of the story, and a couple are outright informative while managing not to be full on lectures. The ending packs a good, unexpected emotional punch without dragging the sentiment into schmaltz, but such moments are rare. The moments in Dog Days that really shine are those that show how horrible the menace that has taken hold of Clear Lake, Texas truly is. When the spotlight strays from that menace, Dog Days loosens its grip on the reader just a bit too much.

[chrystalvaugh-473434 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received a copy of this book in return for an honest review. I found it to be a new and refreshing look at the werewolf mythology and appropriate for younger readers, though not too young as there is some bad language in some spots. The story is from the perspective of a teenage boy and is set in the 1980's. I did enjoy the references to the 80's since I, too, was a teenager during that era. It was refreshingly free of cell phones and computers. There were some jarring moments in the story, where the parents were fighting one moment and then everything seemed fine the next moment without any transition between the two states. However, relationships in the story were believable and the characters were engaging.There were a lot of deaths in the story and some were more noteworthy than others. But the suspense of finding out who the real killer is and following the adventures of Mark and his faithful companion Max the police dog makes this worthy of reading for young and old alike.

[boobalack · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This little book was easy to read, as is most YA material. The plot is interesting and a tad unusual. On one level, it is simply a murder mystery surrounded by various characters trying to solve the case and is also about teen boys, specifically four best friends and a couple of bullies, who pick on them all the time. There seems to be a “hairy man” involved, and since the corpses are found to have been bitten and partially eaten, a rumor starts that the murderer is a werewolf.I didn’t like the lack of discipline exhibited by the main character’s parents. Mark takes his father’s pistol out for a little target practice, and when his police-officer father discovers him putting it back in the locked gun case, all Mark gets is a mild reprimand, not even considering the fact that Mark also had to rifle through his father’s things to find the key. Whatever his parents ask or tell him to do, he does just the opposite. This might give youngsters the impression that Mark’s behavior is acceptable.On another level, this book is a parable, in that there are many lessons to be learned by the happenings described therein. One lesson is that bullying usually doesn’t get the intended results and often the bullies get their just deserts. Another is that the family unit is strong, no matter what. One more is that rushing to judgement is not a good thing to do.To me, the ending was a tad abrupt, seeming like the author couldn’t figure out any more of the story. Either that, or he was hoping the reader would use his or her imagination, which I did.This book is a good little read for an afternoon. I’m sure younger people would enjoy it. I gave it three stars, deducting one for the its implication that teens should ignore whatever parents say and go on with their own plans.

[necronomatar · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

A breezy summer read full of sparing prose and briskly-paced scenes, Dog Days mixes elements of supernatural horror with detective fiction to lay the foundation for protagonist Mark Eckert's gritty and provocative coming of age story.Although set in the early 80s, this is nevertheless a poignant tale that acknowledges the tensions which permeate the often complicated reality of contemporary life. Mark's parents fight a lot, due in large part to their conflicting professional schedules (his mother is a physician and his father is a police officer), and he struggles to understand them when he's not having adventures with his friends or, in his quieter moments, reading classics of genre fiction. As a series of bizarre murders hits ever closer to home and further strains his parents' marriage, Mark's own sense of alienation from his family and friends compels him to take on increasingly dangerous challenges.On the surface, the story is simple: a boy learns that bad things can happen to good people, and courage is what it takes to stand up for oneself and others. However – and hopefully without giving too much away – the underlying suggestion, i.e. that the use of force is sometimes a necessary tool for self-defense, is complicated by Mark's relationship with firearms. Additionally, although the issue of mental illness is addressed when his mother challenges Mark's description of the murderer as a crazed “freak”, this consideration seems superficial, as mental illness ultimately becomes the justification for a de facto summary conviction.There is a lot to like about this novella – most notably its insight into the family dynamics of police officers – as it prompts the reader to question one's assumptions about the character and motivation of other individuals, and it also touches on serious themes (gun safety, mental health). Given the book's intended audience (and the protagonist's keen interest in genre fiction), any number of plans for Mark to capture or thwart the murderer in a more creative way would have sufficed to provide a satisfying resolution without compromising the message of personal accountability and the attendant responsibilities of power.

[caulret · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I received this book through the Library Thing Early Reviewers in exchange for an honest review. I have read some of this author's previous work with different feelings about each book. I had not liked his last two books, so I had put him in a no longer to buy pile in my mind. When I was offered this book to review, I decided to try him one more time. I was pleasantly surprised by this book. It was an enjoyable look into a young man's life during his summer vacation. It is set in the 80s and follows an early teenage young man. It is a story about his experiences and the events that take place in his neighborhood after a storm. The interesting part of this book was the character development of the people in his life. This author really does a good job of making me care about the people in the story. I thoroughly enjoyed the parts that centered on the boy and his dog. The relationships between the boy and his peers were parts of the story that I just lost myself in. Those parts of the story were what made it really shine. I enjoyed the writing and pacing of the story which did not drag like his previous novels in my opinion. The only con that I have for this book were the parts close to his home. Not to spoil anything, but I did have trouble with some believability of what people would do if put in this particular situation. This really pulled me out of a story which was otherwise engaging. All in all, I do recommend this book to people who like mild thrillers with a little supernatural mystery. Although, I'm not sure that I would recommend it to a YA audience.

[anais919 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's the 80's in a suburb of Houston. Mark is fifteen years old and a little bright for his age. Well read and raised to be independent and strong Mark is trying to enjoy his summer vacation after a hurricane and flood the area leaving Clear Lake a disaster zone. His father, a police officer, is called away to a shrimp boat in a tree that holds a grizzly discovery. Murder after gruesome murder rocks the Eckert family. Mark gets caught up in the excitement of the seemingly supernatural deaths that seem to be coming to close to home.A great, fast-paced read!! I would recommend this to a lover of YA or horror!

[cwhisenant11 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In the aftermath of a hurricane, storm victims are terrorized by what appears to be a crazed, cannibalistic killer on the loose. This was a thrilling, fast-paced read unlike anything I've read before. From the first sentence I was intrigued and kept guessing until the end. It was very well written and I enjoyed it very much!

[bj3568 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This novel follows events in the life of a 13 year old boy during summer vacation. The story line is engaging and fast paced. You have some of the typical interactions with parents, friends, and enemies as well as a series of murders in the neighborhood. While the overall arc is a little formulaic, the outcome is a nice, well written story. The young man has a few lines of thought that seem out of character for a 13 year old but not jarringly so. If you tend to like things in this genre, I'd give it a try.

[alanbethcam_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I really did want to like this book. After all, it billed itself as a good ghost story with the boy following ghosts who show him something. NOT! It was more of a mealy mouthed 14 year old boy with an attitude growing into a slightly more mature mealy mouthed 14 year old boy with a little less of an attitude. There was thrills and suspense (though not of the ghost story kind) but no matter how I tried I couldn't like the kid. I just wanted to smack him one. The writing wasn't bad and the author did a good job of being consistent in characterization. There were a couple little editing errors (like a doorbell ringing in chapter 4 when all the lights were out to the town), but on the whole it was a readable book. I won't be recommending this book to my teens, though, as I was rather shocked at what the author considered normal for teen boys to think and act like. All I can say is, if this is what American's are like, thank God we live in another country!

[prairiedances · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really enjoyed this book. It has some great quotes such as:"There are very few feelings as bitter and as hateful as being at that stage in life when you realize you're not quite a kid anymore, but then something comes along and stuffs it back in your face that you're not really an adult either."It also has good, complex characters, and a spooky and realistic setting. I liked Mark and thought the author did a great job of letting the reader get a clear sense of who he was and who he was trying to be. Mark's feelings are presented in a fresh and honest way without placing to much judgment on them. I think this would be a great book for teens to read especially reluctant readers. McKinney nicely feeds into the current YA desire for supernatural but also managed to write a bit for the often neglected mystery genre.All that said, I did find a few faults in the story. It moved a little bit too fast and I think the final act played out somewhat unrealistically. 1983 is a bit before my time but I think even then, the cops would be patrolling the house 24/7. Also everything else Mark goes through is approached intricately with all sides to the story examined except what he does in the last chapter. Seemed like at that point the author was just trying to quickly get to the end for some reason. Still, overall I really liked "Dog Days". It read like Stephen King's "The Body" and I'd be interested to read more from the author.

[andersongs-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It’s 1983. Mark is a kid who lives in an affluent area of his hometown, with a police officer dad in the K-9 unit and a doctor mum, who have marital problems due to work patterns. Mark is a typical teenager: he defies his parents, he likes adventure, has a close-knit group of friends, and he looks forward to integrating with the girls at high school. There is tension between him and his dad, after Mark borrowed his dad’s service gun to shoot an alligator in the swamp, after being spurred on by his friend Jeff.A flood hits Mark’s town, putting many areas under up to 25ft of muddy brown water. A shrimp boat has been stuck in one of the pecan trees in his street, and there is a strange smell emanating from it. Mark’s dad is called to investigate, and finds mutilated bodies inside; a killer who appears to be human has murdered the crew of the boat.“One small person can bleed enough to cover an entire living room floor, up to your shoelaces” Mark, Jeff, Alan and Eric make use of the floods to paddle their canoe around the swamps, ultimately incurring – again – the wrath of a gang of older boys who have been bullying them for around 2 years. I felt a connection to the boys at this point, as there are always occasions where kids helplessly have to endure bullies for no real reason.As the bodies start to rack up, Mark’s former babysitter and teenage-crush Heather – who also happens to be his friend Alan’s sister – is a victim of the killer along with another friend. One of her girlfriends survives and manages to tell of a savage “hairy man”, who ran off after attacking the girls. Alan understandably becomes distant as the other boys speculate on the coincidence between the lunar cycle and the killings, and they reckon it could be a werewolf. Another full-moon is up-coming, and the boys await another appearance by the hairy man, who will no doubt seek more victims.I read the book in one sitting, and I really enjoyed this book, which I received through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers giveaway. It is an easy but enjoyable read, though some themes are probably for the older end of the Young Adult spectrum. I liked the main character, seeing myself in his sometimes headstrong teenage ways, and I liked the tense atmosphere of a deranged killer being out in the swamps somewhere. There was a twist I thought was coming which never did, and I felt the end was a little rushed, though there is a satisfying conclusion to it. The dog Max is a loveable character, as he alternates between loving family pet into protector, able to offer a dual purpose to the storyline. The only question mark for me in the book was a tirade by Mark’s mother on the sins of the church, which I think seemed out of place and didn’t sit with the rest of the novel. I am not remotely religious, but felt the novel didn’t need it. It seemed more like a random outburst than really connected to the plot.All-in-all though, a very good book, one which I will probably read again, and would recommend to other fans of the genre.

[katylit · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Hurricane Alexis has hit Houston and left devastation in its wake. Mark and his father, a local police officer, stand on their front porch surveying the destruction. A neighbour paddles his canoe down to them and asks for help. He has a large shrimp boat stuck high in the branches of one of his pecan trees. And that's not all, something smells bad from inside the boat. Really bad. Dog Days is a fun, exciting, quick read about a teenage boy, his family, his friends and how they all deal with a mysterious, maybe supernatural? certainly deadly, something that has seemingly taken up residence in their neighbourhood. The story keeps you guessing until the end, you find yourself rooting for Mark, the teenager, worrying about his dog Max and shivering with dread at the horror that hides.

[janagram · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book was hard to put down. It was about a young teen ager during his summer before high school. It showed him growing from an irresponsible kid to someone who could admit to fears and face them. There were examples of peer pressure, bullying, family troubles, and dangers. Some of the parts described were a bit gory for me, but the story had good elements and conclusion.

[caroltilson · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It kills, it mutilates and it eats everything it sees.Dog Days is the story of 15 year old Mark, whose mother is a pediatrician and his father, a high ranking K-9 police officer. Of course, we cannot leave out Max, a highly trained police dog that has bonded more with Mark than his Mark’s dad. Two parents with demanding careers can sometimes make it harder for Mark to know which way to turn. The story begins in the aftermath of a horrible storm that has left a neighbors boat in his pecan tree. That’s not the surprising part. The big news is what is found inside the boat. There are three bodies brutally torn apart, savagely eaten. As the book goes on, Mark secretly shows his friends his dad’s hidden files and pictures of what this creature has done. Mark is attacked by this creature who has been terrorizing the area. Find out who survives, if anyone and what happens to the creature.

[doseofbella · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Dog DaysBy: Joe Mc Kinney Bram Stoker Award WinnerPages. 139. Genre: YA ThrillerPublisher: JournalStone Books July 2014Copy Courtesy of: JournalStoneReviewed by: tkA one of a kind thriller that only Joe Mckenny can deliver!A hurricane hits Brook Forest, Texas. A shrimp boat left in Tom Moores Pecan tree down the road from the Wes Eckert's home is only the beginning of this amazing story. Wes works for the Houston Police. His wife is a pediatrician, and his son Mark is known for getting into mischief.What Wes discovers inside this shrimp boat will lead to an macabre adventure for the young teens in this small town. Wes, Mark, his friends and foes, and last but not least his dog Max, will have stop the evil stalking the town.This story will make you forget your reading. As you turn the pages, the story comes alive and wraps you so tightly you wont be able to put it down. The characters feel like your neighbors and friends, and the story line completely believable. I have a great imagination where anything is possible. I recommend this book for young adult to seniors. 5/5

[journalstone-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Winner of the Bram Stoker Award® for Superior Achievement in a YA Novel.It's the summer of 1983 and the suburbs of Houston are reeling from a disastrous hurricane. But the storm brought more than wind and floodwaters. In the swamps that surround Clear Lake a brutal and possibly supernatural killer is gathering strength, and waiting for the full moon. The focus of his bloodlust is fifteen year old Mark Eckert. Reckless to a fault, with a knack for making spectacularly bad decisions, Mark had planned to spend that last summer before high school wandering the swamps with his friends and his beloved dog Max. But after a chance encounter with the lunatic, Mark's summer becomes a time of terror and tragedy. With his life on the line, Mark's courage will be tested to his limits and beyond as he struggles to survive the hottest days of summer: the dog days.